The present invention relates to a device for bringing about the tight coupling of two rigid, fixed pipes, particularly when the axes of said pipes can have alignment deficiencies resulting from an angular and/or lateral displacement between said axes.
In a large number of industrial installations, fixed equipments are interconncted by rigid pipes carrying fluids of different types. When such an installation is installed, it is rarely possible to reciprocally set up the equipment in such a way that the axes of the ends of the pipes connecting them are aligned. The problem is made more complicated as the number of pipes increases.
In addition, certain equipment must be replaced after a certain period of use. Bearing in mind the manufacturing tolerances of such equipment, even if two pipes were initially aligned, said alignment normally no longer exists after such a replacement.
In numerous cases, the sealing of the coupling between the pipes makes it necessary to use coupling devices taking into account the alignment deficiencies existing between the pipes.
One known solution for solving this problem consists of using a flexible compensator, whose ends are fixed to flanges, which are tightly connected to fixed flanges at the ends of the pipes. For this purpose, gaskets are generally compressed between adjacent flanges or clamps, e.g. using tie rods passing through them. Although this solution makes it possible to solve the problem, of the tight coupling of two unaligned pipes, it suffers from certain disadvantages preventing it use in other cases.
Thus, the presence of a flexible compensator between the two pipes produces at this location a retention zone. When the fluid transported is corrosive, in a relatively short time said retention zone may lead to a break in the seal of the compensator, under the effect of the corrosive action of the fluid stagnating in this zone. This retention zone can also lead to disturbances in the circulation of a liquid, such as water hammer, when air or another gas is trapped in said zone during liquid circulation stoppage.
Situations of this type occur in certain sectors of the chemical industry and in the nuclear industry.
To illustrate the latter case, reference is made to installations for the processing of irradiated nuclear fuels, in which the different equipments are generally located in tight confinement cells separated by walls traversed by pipes in which circulate normally corrosive fluids.
In the nuclear industry, the aforementioned problems are made worse because the coupling of the pipes, particularly during the replacement of one of the equipments, can only take place remotely using remote manipulators or similar handling equipment.
The invention relates to a novel device for the tight coupling of rigid, fixed pipes making it possible to compensate any alignment defects between said pipes, which does not have the disadvantages of flexible or bellows compensators referred to hereinbefore and which can be advantageously installed and removed remotely using standard handling equipment.